


A Light of Song, Shining Strong

by StariWolfe



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, canach is only there briefly at the end, someone hears another person sing for the first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 12:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18410576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StariWolfe/pseuds/StariWolfe
Summary: The commander has a bad dream and sneaks away to try and calm down by singing. She doesn't realize that she's been followed.





	A Light of Song, Shining Strong

**Author's Note:**

> Yo whaddup I'm back on my OC/OC junk. Character images are on my tumblr, nocte-argentea. The title of this story is a reference to Earth Song by Frank Ticheli and the song that Vesper sings is Over the Hills by Gary Moore. If you want to listen to them, I highly reccommend the Patty Gurdy version of Over the Hills, it's incredible.

It was that same damn dream.

Everything. Everything was being consumed by the Elder Dragons. Friends, family, and comrades were all devoured by the raging beasts. Some tried to fight against it, some tried to run, some just accepted their deaths. But all who encountered the magic starved dragons were mercilessly stricken down.

Even the two dragons that should’ve been dead were there. How was that possible? Were the sacrifices given in order to bring them down all in vain? The world itself was being torn apart, by beasts that should’ve been dead. Nothing was spared from their hunger.

And she was powerless to stop it.

She tried. Oh gods, she tried. She stood against the dragons, trying to have hope, to foster hope in everyone else. She had to do something, she couldn’t just stand around and do nothing!

She couldn’t let everything that she’d done go to waste. She couldn’t let the deaths of those who were killed be in vain.

But even she couldn’t stand up to the maw of oblivion itself.

She watched as it consumed the cities, the Orders, the guilds…

Her friends.

And then they came for her. She was staring death in the face. She saw the corruption coming straight for her. And she couldn’t do anything.

 

Vesper awoke with a jolt, shooting upright in her bed. She looked around her room, realizing she was in the guild hall. No dragons, no corruption, no death. Even from her room, she heard her friends still at the tavern. Everything was okay. She took a few deep breaths, and wiped away the sweat that had formed on her forehead. She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. Gods, that dream was so vivid. It’s been happening more and more often lately, and it’s been getting worse every time. 

She tried to lay back down, to try and sleep again. But the dream haunted her. What if it happened again? She couldn’t sleep right now. She needed some fresh air.

She stood up and changed from her sleepwear to her usual clothing, minus her coat and eyepatch. Even at night, the Gilded Hollow was pretty warm, so her tunic and red vest should suffice. She was also fully planning on avoiding other people on her way to a secluded area. She didn’t want to be questioned, for anyone to pity her. There was no need to hide her eye right now. 

The commander made sure that no one was near the entrance to her room, and then began to sneak around to the east side of the cavern. To her knowledge, no one in the tavern saw her. She was thankful that she was good at remaining unnoticed. Once she’d gotten near the mine, she called for Firefly. The place where she was going required a griffon’s help to get there, which meant only she and three other guild members could get there. It was the perfect spot for some peace and quiet.

Vesper and Firefly finally reached the spot that she’d wanted to go. It was an area in the most northeast part of the cavern: a small grassy area with a tree and water running down from a waterfall on both sides. The commander always came here when she needed time alone, or time to think. She sat down next to the tree and leaned against the trunk, watching the water flow.

That nightmare wouldn’t leave her conscious. She kept trying to rid herself of the thoughts of death and destruction, but they wouldn’t go away. Everything that she was trying to do…was it all for nothing? Could they really not stand against the beasts? No, she had to keep trying. She couldn’t let anyone else die in vain. Too many had been lost already. She had to protect Tyria. She had to protect her friends.

But even with her resolve, the images of her friends dying in front of her remained in her mind. Nocte, Luna, Sapphire…Altair. All of them succumbing to the corruption nearly brought her to tears again. She tried to get her mind off of it by watching the water flow. It helped a bit; it reminded her of her nights on the sea, listening to the waves and watching the stars.

She began to sing softly, an old song she learned a few years ago.

“Over the hills and far away, for ten long years he’ll count the days. Over the mountains and the sea, a prisoner’s life for him there’ll be…”

She loved to sing. She loved hearing her voice hang on the air. She loved to sing shanties with the other sailors and pirates when she roamed the seas. It was always a comfort.

But she rarely sung in front of people anymore. She had a serious stage fright problem. What if people thought she couldn’t sing? What if she was tone deaf? What if people didn’t like her voice? No, she’d sing when she was alone. She didn’t want to be humiliated.

She was on the third verse when she thought she heard something. The sound of griffon wings, specifically. It was probably just Firefly; the griffon had been wandering around the small area since Vesper had gotten here. The commander kept singing.

She heard footsteps now. Footsteps that were definitely not those of a griffon. Vesper started to realize that she wasn’t alone. But who found her? She was nearly certain that no one saw her. The only others who could make it up here were Nocte, Lemon, and-

“Vess?”

Altair.

She looked behind her. Altair was standing there beside his griffon, Cynder. He had a worried look on his face that was accentuated by his light blue glow. She felt a blush starting to rise to her face. Had he heard her singing?

“What are you doing up here? Lemon said she noticed you sneaking this way. Are you alright?” The sylvari walked over to where Vesper was sitting and sat down next to her. He was very clearly concerned. She noted dumbly that he was minus his coat as well, also in a plain tunic and vest. She wasn’t very surprised that he was confused, though. Sneaking off in the middle of the night was kind of unusual for her. As far as he knew, anyway.

“I just had a bad dream, is all. Couldn’t get back to sleep and needed some fresh air. I like coming here to calm down.” She didn’t want to tell him exactly what the dream had been about. She didn’t want him worrying about her; he had enough to deal with already.

“I see, but are you okay?” Damn. She was hoping he wouldn’t notice that she dodged the question. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked ahead at the flowing water. 

“I…” She sighed. She wasn’t going to lie to him. “No. I’m not okay. It was…a really bad dream, mate. I’ve been trying to get it out of my head but it won’t go away.”

“Oh. I see. Came here to get some peace and quiet then?” When Vesper nodded, he looked at the water and continued. “If you want me to leave you be for a while, I will. I was just concerned about you.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s honestly a bit of a comfort to have you here.” She didn’t dare tell him this, but having Altair around always made her feel safe. It legitimately helped to have him here.

“Alright, I’ll stick around then.” He glanced her way and shot her a wink. “I’m not going to complain about spending an evening with a beautiful person.”

Vesper had to look away to hide a blush. She wasn’t expecting that comment, though she probably should have, knowing Altair. He loved to tease her like that.

“By the way, that was you singing, right?”

Shit. He did hear her. She tried to think quickly.

“That was probably Firefly you heard. You know how much she loves to vocalize.” She stated, with what she hoped was a convincible tone of voice.

Altair looked at her with a deadpan expression and a raised eyebrow.

“Really? Firefly? Vocalizing in a pattern that sounds like actual words?”

“I mean, a lot of birds can do that. Are you really that surprised?” When Altair didn’t let up his skeptical look, she looked away and relented. “Alright, fine. Yes, it was me.”

“I’m…speechless, honestly.” 

“I can’t tell if that’s a good comment or bad comment, mate.” Her fears started rising. Did he not like her voice?

“Good. Very good. Vess, your voice is…ethereal. Why don’t you sing more often?” Altair was beaming at her now. She wasn’t expecting such a positive reply.

“W-Well, ah, you see…” Vesper was panicking a bit, not completely sure how to respond to such high praise. “Basically, I’m a bit, uh…shy, when it comes to singing.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “You? Shy?”

“It’s hard to explain. I get really anxious whenever I even think of singing in front of others. The only times I remember singing around others were when Nocte, Luna, and I were still with the pirates. We’d gather on deck at night and sing sea shanties ‘til the sun came up. But past that, I think I’ve only ever sung freely around Nocte and Luna.” She looked up towards the ceiling of the cavern, and leaned back on her hands. “I’m always afraid people won’t like my voice. When we’d sing songs at night, you couldn’t really tell whose voice was whose over the multitude of people and crashing waves. While I enjoy singing on my own, it’s still unnerving to do so around others. Am I…making any sense? Or am I just a coward about this whole thing?”

“It makes sense to me, you’re no coward.” Altair smiled comfortingly at her, before turning away briefly. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t think you’d be singing when I came up here to check on you.”

“You didn’t, it’s fine. I’m just not used to praise like that.” The usual compliments she got were on her combat prowess or her charm. “I don’t mind you knowing. I trust you not to reveal my secrets to everyone.” She gave him sassy wink.

His lips turned into a smirk. “Oh? Does that mean you’ll sing for me now?”

Vesper fought a blush, again, and buried her face in her hands. Altair burst into laughter, nearly falling onto the ground. She glared at him through her fingers. He tried to get his laughter under control.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! But you should’ve seen the look on your-” He looked at her and his eyes widened. He turned his head away from her quickly, his own cheeks glowing a bright blue light. “Vess, you’re…ah…not wearing your eyepatch…”

Oh. She’d forgotten about that. She was amazing it’d taken him that long to notice.

“Oh. I guess I’m not. I didn’t think I’d run into anyone else so I didn’t put it on.” She looked at her sylvari friend, still looking away. “Does it make you uncomfortable? It’s okay with me if you see it. I won’t be offended or anything. I’ll even hold still if you want a closer look.”

“You’re sure?”

“Of course. Like I said earlier, I trust you.”

He fully faced her at that, looking at her eye that was usually covered. Vesper knew it was a strange sight, no pun intended. Unlike her right eye, which was a golden color, her left eye was silver. This was due to a medical procedure she received to retain sight in it. A scar also crossed over the eye vertically. Even though it still functioned, she’d begun wearing an eyepatch to combat being self conscious about it.

“It’s a different color. Is that why you wear an eyepatch?” Altair paused and considered his statement. “Wait. That was a really dumb question, wasn’t it?”

“No, not really. I can actually still see out of it. There’s a couple of different reasons why I wear something over it.” She was apparently sharing her life story tonight. Not that she minded too terribly. She enjoyed telling stories. 

Especially with Altair. 

“Basically, right before the other two and I left the pirate crew, a new captain took over. This captain was much more into murder and pillaging than our old captain, and the three of us didn’t like it. That’s not what we signed up for. We wanted adventure and treasure, not murder and carnage. Well, the day we left, as we were trying to leave, he confronted us. Didn’t want his three best fighters leaving for other endeavors. He and I fought, and I ultimately lost. That’s how I got this scar.” 

Altair was following along intently. She gestured towards the eye in question. “I had to have a medical procedure to make sure I could still see, and that’s how my eye turned silver. Whatever material was used to repair it is also reflective, which is very bad when I’m trying to be stealthy. Plus, as cool as the scar is, I’m a bit self conscious about it. So, eyepatch!”

Her companion nodded. “I see. So you managed to escape from that crew. Do you know what happened to them after that?”

“Well I was GOING to have a rematch when I recovered, but from what Luna told me, Nocte got to him first. I don’t exactly know what happened, but it was Nocte. I can imagine the carnage that she left behind.” Altair turned away and she swore she saw him shudder. He’d seen the norn ranger when she was angry. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

“That’s…a disturbing image. Well, I need to get that out of my mind now, or I’ll be in the same boat as you.” He returned his eyes to her. “May I take a closer look at your eye? It’s okay if you say no, but it’s a little hard to see in detail in the dark.”

“Aye, that’s fine with me.”

Altair gave her a sweet smile and leaned closer, putting a finger under her chin and lifting gently to inspect it further. This was…a bit more intimate than she was expecting. Vesper wasn’t complaining, necessarily, but she couldn’t stop her face from heating up, and she knew he could see it. She couldn’t turn away or use her hands to hide it, which left her completely open to his teasing.

But, surprisingly, no teasing came.

He was just looking into her eye. Did he not see the redness? Maybe it was too dark. Wait, no, that didn’t make sense; he should be able to see it with his glow lighting up her face. She returned his gaze, starting to feel the heat die down. 

“Your eyes are beautiful, Vess.” Altair told her, his voice just above a whisper. Damn it, she finally got her blush under control and he just had to say that. Vesper moved her eyes away from him momentarily, trying to get herself together. When she looked back, he hadn’t moved his gaze from her. He was just smiling gently at her. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling shyly back at him. 

His eyes fell to her lips.

He let them linger there for a few seconds, then looked back into her eyes. She knew what that meant. He’d asked her that silent question before, but they’d always been interrupted before anything could happen. Here, in this secluded area of the guild hall, an interruption seemed unlikely. She smiled at him and blinked slowly, giving her consent.

Altair smiled back at her, and leaned slightly closer. He moved his hand from beneath her chin to tuck some of her stray hair behind her ear, and cupped her cheek in his hand. Vesper leaned into his hand. She liked the way his skin felt; it reminded her of aloe leaves. He leaned even closer and put his forehead against hers. It felt like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. He was taking his sweet time with this; she assumed he was giving her a chance to move if she changed her mind. Their noses were touching now, and Vesper could feel his breath.

This was the moment of truth.

Suddenly, avian screeching from behind the two startled them enough to make them jump apart. Vesper lost her balance and nearly toppled into the water. Thankfully, Altair caught her before she fell into the river, preventing her from heading back to bed cold and damp. They looked behind them to investigate the sound, and saw that their griffons had begun play fighting with each other. 

Vesper gazed at them for a moment, and after a few seconds, the absurdity of the situation got to her and she began laughing. The two were still interrupted, even though they were in a highly secluded place. Altair probably was having the same thoughts because he started to laugh, too. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, still laughing, and she responded by putting her arms around his neck.  


As they were laughing together, Vesper swore she heard some anguished cries coming from somewhere nearby. She leaned back to look at her companion.

“Don’t get alarmed, mate, but I think we’re being watched.” She whispered. “I heard something that sounded a lot like our friends nearby.”

“Oh really?” He grinned, a look of mischief in his eye. “Well, as much as I would like to continue, we’d better not linger if we’re being watched. Do you feel any better?”

“Aye, much better.”

“I’m glad. Come on, I’ll walk you back to your room.”

The two made their way back to the main area of the Gilded Hollow. Vesper kept an eye out for who might’ve been listening, but she didn’t see anyone on the way back. They must have fled once the two had begun to move. She had a pretty good idea of who it was though. Only one person had seen her go up to the small glade, and that same person had a griffon and the ability to carry one more person with them. She’d think of a good prank to get them back.

Finally, and a little too soon in Vesper’s opinion, they made it outside of the commander’s room. She turned to look at Altair.

“Thanks for walking me back, mate. And thanks for cheering me up.”

“Of course. I know you’d do the same for me. I hope you’ll feel more comfortable singing now, too. Your voice is really magnificent.” He winked at her, wearing a grin on his face.

“Possibly. Maybe for you, mate. I’ll teach you some of my favorite songs.” She returned his smile. “By the way, I have a strong idea of who might’ve been watching us. You’re gonna help me prank them, right?”

“Oh hell yeah. I’m not missing out on some revenge. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, yeah?” Vesper could tell he was getting tired. Altair was of the cycle of noon, so staying up late wasn’t his forte.

“Sure thing. But before you go…” She leaned up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for all you’ve done tonight, Altair. It means more than you realize.” The sylvari began to glow a bright blue on his cheeks. It’s fun to fluster him every now and again.

“O-Of course, Vess. Anything for you. Anyway, I’ll see you in the morning.” He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “And feel free to come get me if you have any more nightmares. I’ll think of something to cheer you up.”

“Sure thing. Goodnight, mate.” The two parted ways for the night. Vesper felt much, much better after spending time with Altair. She walked to her bed and snuggled up under the covers, looking at the ceiling for a moment.

“He really has my whole heart, huh?” She whispered to herself, before dozing off and have much more pleasant dreams.

 

“Lemon, you almost got us caught! How would you explain what we were doing up there to the commander?” Canach whisper-yelled at the bright yellow sylvari. The two of them had fled when Vesper and Altair began to move back to the main area of the guild hall, and were currently hiding within a cranny near the water.

“Oh, it would’ve been fine! I would’ve just said that you’d wanted to see the scenery in that area of the hollow!” Lemon was the one who’d let out the anguished cry when the griffons had interrupted the would-be lovebirds’ moment. They’d been so close…

“Listen, as much as I believe that Vesper would buy that, I’d rather not have to explain ourselves. Both of them already know I have a wager placed on them, and I feel certain that they’d not take kindly to being watched. They’d be especially not happy to find multiple people in on that bet.” While the two knew Canach had a bet placed on them getting together, they had no idea that Lemon, Nocte, and Luna were also in on the wager, and Canach would prefer to keep it that way.

“I know, but did you see? They were so close to kissing! Gah, if only the griffons hadn’t starting playing!” Lemon was immensely frustrated. Canach couldn’t blame her; several people were hoping that the two would get together soon.

“I’m aware, but I’d rather wait a little longer than face the commander’s wrath. I’ve already been on the receiving end of her pranks and I’d rather not be there again.”

“Fine. I think they’re gone now, we should be able to get back to our rooms safely.” Lemon walked out of the cranny, heading towards the stairs that led to the upper level. 

“Alright, fine. Sleep with one eye open, though, it’s quite possible the commander may have figured us out.”

“I’m sure it’s fine! She was too distracted to notice!”

The next day, the two spies found that eavesdropping was a bad idea, for the commander had spiked their drinks in the morning with potions that turned Canach pink and Lemon blue. Needless to say, it would be at least a week before the two would spy on the would-be lovers again.


End file.
